Glenn Beck Is Exploiting Israel

August 18, 2011 10:30 am ET —
MJ Rosenberg

Former Fox News personality Glenn Beck plans to hold his
Restoring Courage rally in Jerusalem starting on Sunday. The event is part of
Beck's efforts at restoring his credibility after years of being called out for
repeating anti-Semitic tropes and singling out for attack some of America's
most influential Jews. The following is a piece that I wrote for Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the
country's most widely circulated paper, informing Israelis who Beck is and how
he is attempting to exploit them. The original was in Hebrew.

If there is one thing
that pretty much all Israelis agree on, it is the determination not to be
perceived as, or to actually be, a "freier," a Hebrew slang term for "sucker"
or "chump." Nobody likes to be taken advantage of, but Israelis seem more
sensitive to this than other people, sometimes even preemptively turning the
other guy into a freier rather than let him get you first.

Well, guess what? The
entire State of Israel is being played for a freier right now, with the actual
freier extravaganza taking place on August 24.

That
is the day that fired Fox News commentator Glenn Beck will convene his
"Restoring Courage" rally at the Teddy stadium. The gathering, the first major
Beck event since Fox News cancelled his television show, is designed to restore
Beck's image by identifying him with the State of Israel, a country popular
across the political spectrum in the United States.

A
successful rally in Israel could help transform Beck's reputation from a failed
extreme right-wing demagogue to an international figure popular in a country that
is special to many, if not most, Americans.

Beck
intends to use Israel as a prop in his effort to get back on top.

Unfortunately,
although identification with Israel can only help Beck's image, it can only
harm Israel's. That is because in the United States, Beck is a divisive and
polarizing figure, even among ardent conservatives. That's the reason Fox News
ultimately fired him, which incidentally occurred after virtually all his
sponsors abandoned him. Any product touched by Beck is damaged.

If
his rally succeeds in achieving mainstream support in Israel, Israel will be
damaged, too — especially among the vast majority of Americans who see him as a
bigoted extremist.

Tolerance
for anti-Semitism

Among the reasons
mainstream Americans do not like Beck is his insensitive exploitation of the
Holocaust and Nazism to smear his opponents. Most recently, this ugly
insensitivity extended to the Norwegian campers who were killed in the Oslo
terrorist attack. Because the camp was sponsored by Norway's Labor Party, Beck
likened the murdered kids to the "Hitler Youth." This slur was reminiscent of
Beck's attacks on the Jewish billionaire, George Soros, who survived the
Holocaust as a teenager.

Beck,
who hates Soros' liberal economic views, said that the Jewish Soros was a Nazi
collaborator rather than a Nazi victim. (Imagine, anyone saying that about a 14
year old child; of course some of the Oslo campers were 14, too!) He also has
repeatedly depicted Soros as the archetypal international Jew who secretly runs
the world, going so far as to depict the United States as Soros's puppet.
(Beck's slurs against Soros led to his being condemned by numerous American
Jewish organizations.) Beck has also repeatedly invited extreme right-wing and
anti-Semitic speakers to appear on his show, often the kind of speakers who
could never appear on mainstream television because of their views.

Not
surprisingly, Beck has been roundly denounced for his tolerance for anti-Semitism
and his insensitivity to the Holocaust. He always responds the same way: "I
love Israel."

If
Israel "loves him back" it will go far toward rehabilitating a disgraced
American media figure. It will also antagonize the vast majority of Americans
who consider Beck a hateful bigot. Perhaps, most significantly, it will
antagonize Democrats who almost universally despise Beck but whose support for
Israel is vital in maintaining the US-Israel alliance.

Israel
cannot allow that to happen. Glenn Beck is playing Israel for a freier.
Hopefully, Israel will turn the tables on him and show him that Israelis will
not be used to advance the career of a failed right-wing showman, especially
one whose views are so odious.